Crucial BX200 SSD Review

Today we take a look at the latest launch from Crucial, the BX200 SSD. Released today it updates their value range of SSDs with a new controller and NAND so is more than just a refresh. Welcome to our Crucial BX200 SSD Review.

Crucial BX200 SSD Review – Packaging and Bundle

There are no real surprises as far as packaging of the BX200 SSD goes. The drive arrived in a box which gives some basic info about the product and inside the SSD is wrapped in an anti-static bag and suspended in a plastic tray for added protection. Bundled with it we get a plastic bumper which we can stick on to make it fit a little better in systems with 9.5mm bays and a key for Acronis True Image HD is provided too. That tool helps us move our data from an existing drive to the new BX200 without needing to reinstall Windows.

Crucial BX200 SSD Review – Software

Crucial also offer a tool to help us monitor and maintain our new SSD. A free download from their website, Crucial Storage Executive gives us plenty of information on the drive as well as allowing firmware updates and the ability to completely erase the drive (Secure Erase).

Crucial BX200 SSD Review – The Drive

With their latest drives Crucial go with the same metal casing as other recent models. This is a clamp based chassis with no screws present and to the top and bottom Crucial apply their branding stickers. A SATA 3 (6GB/s) connector sits on the end as does the power input. The drive has a 7mm thickness and is a 2.5? form factor model.

We mentioned earlier that this was an all new controller/NAND configuration for Crucial, the BX100 was Micron MLC NAND with Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller. The BX200 uses 16nm TLC NAND from Micron with a Silicon Motion SM2256 controller. There are four capacities available 240GB, 480GB and 960TB and the performance for all models is 540MB/s read and 490MB/s write. That is a change from the BX100 where a 120Gb model was available and the write speed varied from 185Mb/s up to 450MB/s. IOPS on this new model are rated at 66k/78k with power use of 65mW when idle, 10mW in sleep and a peak of 4200mW in use.

All of the standard features we would expect from a value orientated SSD are present, such as TRIM, Garbage collection, temperature monitoring and SMART Support. It has a 3-year warranty (MTTF 1.5m hours, 72TBW or 40GB per day equivalent over 5years). Finally, the 960GB model has a formated size of 893GB in Windows.

Crucial BX200 SSD Review – Performance

Testing was performed on an i7-5960X with X99 motherboard, 16GB of DDR4 and on Windows 10. All software, drivers and the OS were up to date.

Atto Benchmark:

CrystalDiskMark (4k QD32):

BlackMagic HD Video Read/Write Benchmark:

BF Hardline Map Load:

Windows Load Time:

File Copy Tests (Real World):

Crucial BX200 SSD Review – Conclusion

Looking at build quality first the drive provides a good level of component. We know that Micron (Crucial) make great NAND and so are always happy to use their drives. The Silicon Motion controller used here is an evolution of the previous gen which has been in the field for a while now and performed well enough for Crucial to use the brand again and the casing is nice and solid.

The inclusion of the bumper and free software not only adds value, it makes both our installation and ongoing use nice and simple. We do think that the Storage Executive interface could be worked on…it does not scale nicely in the browser and there is a lot of scrolling about, but the functionality is all there and it is responsive and easy to understand.

As far as the performance goes, the drive sits exactly where we would expect given its price point and form factor. SSDs using SATA 3 have been pretty much stuck at around 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write for a few generations now and so there is nothing out of the ordinary here. It is a competitive drive. If you need faster the M.2 and PCIe drives are the way to go… that said a standard SSD such as this is still significantly faster than a standard hard drive (usually around 120MB/s read/write) and we get the low power draw, no moving parts benefits from SSDs as well.

Probably the most significant aspect of the BX200 is how it improves the overall Crucial product stack. Gone are the limited write speeds of the various BX100 drives. BX200 brings us the latest controller, Flash chips and performance which is solid across all capacities.

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